Ridvan 1979 (Naw-Rúz):
Bahá'í Era 136

The decline of religious and moral restraints has unleashed a fury of
chaos and confusion that already bears the signs of universal anarchy.
Engulfed in this maelstrom, the Bahá'í world community, pursuing with
indefeasible unity and spiritual force its redemptive mission,
inevitably suffers the disruption of economic, social and civil life
which afflicts its fellowmen throughout the planet. It must also bear
particular tribulations. The violent disturbances in Persia, coinciding
with the gathering in of the bountiful harvest of the Five Year Plan,
have brought new and cruel hardships to our long-suffering brethren in
the Cradle of our Faith and confronted the Bahá'í world community with
critical challenges to its life and work. As the Bahá'í world stood
poised on the brink of victory, eagerly anticipating the next stage in
the unfoldment of the Master's Divine Plan, Bahá'u'lláh's heroic
compatriots, the custodians of the Holy Places of our Faith in the land
of its birth, were yet again called upon to endure the passions of
brutal mobs, the looting and burning of their homes, the destruction of
their means of livelihood, and physical violence and threats of death to
force them to recant their faith. They, like their immortal forebears,
the Dawn-Breakers, are standing steadfast in face of this new
persecution and the ever-present threat of organized extermination.

Remembering that during the Five Year Plan the Persian friends far
surpassed any other national community in their outpouring of pioneers
and funds, we, in all those parts of the world where we are still free
to promote the Cause of God, have the responsibility to make good their
temporary inability to serve. Therefore, with uplifted hearts and
radiant faith, we must arise with redoubled energy to pursue our mighty
task, confident that the Lord of Hosts will continue to reward our
efforts with the same bountiful grace He vouchsafed to us in the Five
Year Plan.

Teaching Victories in the Five Year Plan

The teaching victories in that Plan have been truly prodigious; the
points of light, those localities where the Promised One is recognized,
have increased from sixty-nine thousand five hundred to over ninety-six
thousand; the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies has grown from
seventeen thousand to over twenty-five thousand; eighteen new National
Spiritual Assemblies have been formed. The final report will disclose in
all their manifold aspects the magnitude of the victories won.

In the world at large the Bahá'í community is now firmly established.
The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, the Chief Stewards of
Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic World Commonwealth, is bearing a precious fruit
in the development of the International Teaching Center as a mighty
institution of the World Center of the Faith; an institution blessed by
the membership of all the Hands of the Cause; an institution whose
beneficent influence is diffused to all parts of the Bahá'í community
through the Continental Boards of Counselors, the members of the
Auxiliary Boards and their assistants.

Advised, stimulated and supported by this vital arm of the
Administrative Order, 125 National Spiritual Assemblies are rapidly
acquiring experience and growing in wisdom as they administer the
complex affairs of their respective communities as organic parts of one
worldwide fellowship. More and more Local Spiritual Assemblies are
becoming strong focal centers of local Bahá'í communities and firm
pillars of the National Spiritual Assembly in each land. Even in those
countries where the Bahá'í Administration cannot operate or has had to
be disbanded, countries to which have now been added Afghanistan, the
Congo Republic, Niger, Uganda and Vietnam, the believers, while obedient
to their governments, nevertheless staunchly keep alive the flame of
faith.

Spiritual Development of the Bahá'í Community

Beyond the expansion of the community, vital as it is, the Five Year
Plan witnessed great progress in the spiritual development of the
friends, the growing maturity and wisdom of Local and National
Assemblies, and in the degree to which Bahá'í communities embody the
distinguishing characteristics of Bahá'í life and attract, by their
unity, their steadfastness, their radiance and good reputation, the
interest and eventual wholehearted support of their fellow citizens.
This is the magnet which will attract the masses to the Cause of God,
and the leaven that will transform human society.

Obstacles and Opportunities

The conditions of the world present the followers of Bahá'u'lláh with
both obstacles and opportunities. In an increasing number of countries
we are witnessing the fulfillment of the warnings that the writings of
our Faith contain. "Peoples, nations, adherents of divers faiths," the
beloved Guardian wrote, "will jointly and successively arise to shatter
its unity, to sap its force, and to degrade its holy name. They will
assail not only the spirit which it inculcates, but the administration
which is the channel, the instrument, the embodiment of that spirit. For
as the authority with which Bahá'u'lláh has invested the future Bahá'í
Commonwealth becomes more and more apparent, the fiercer shall be the
challenge which from every quarter will be thrown at the verities it
enshrines." In different countries, in varying degrees, the followers of
Bahá'u'lláh at this very hour are undergoing such attacks, and are
facing imprisonment and even martyrdom rather than deny the Truth for
whose sake the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh drained the cup of sacrifice.

In other lands, such as those in Western Europe, the faithful believers
have to struggle to convey the message in the face of widespread
indifference, materialistic self-satisfaction, cynicism and moral
degradation. These friends, however, still have freedom to teach the
Faith in their homelands, and in spite of the discouraging meagerness of
outward results they continue to proclaim the Message of Bahá'u'lláh to
their fellow-citizens, to raise high the reputation of the Cause in the
public eye, to acquaint leaders of thought and those in authority with
its true tenets, and to spare no effort to seek out those receptive
souls in every town and village who will respond to the divine summons
and devote their lives to its service.

In many lands, however, there is an eager receptivity for the teachings
of the Faith. The challenge for the Bahá'ís is to provide these
thousands of seeking souls, as swiftly as possible, with the spiritual
food that they crave, to enlist them under the banner of Bahá'u'lláh, to
nurture them in the way of life He has revealed, and to guide them to
elect Local Spiritual Assemblies which, as they begin to function
strongly, will unite the friends in firmly consolidated Bahá'í
communities and become beacons of guidance and havens of refuge to
mankind.

Faced by such a combination of danger and opportunity, the Bahá'ís,
confident in the ultimate triumph of God's purpose for mankind, raise
their eyes to the goals of a new Seven Year Plan.

World Center Goals

In the Holy Land the strengthening of the World Center and the
augmentation of its worldwide influence must continue:

The Seat of the Universal House of Justice will be completed and
designs will be adopted for the remaining three buildings of the World
Administrative Center of the Faith.

The Institution of the International Teaching Center will be developed
and its functions expanded. This will require an increase in its
membership and the assumption by it and by the Continental Boards of
Counselors of wider functions in the stimulation on an international
scale of the propagation and consolidation of the Faith, and in the
promotion of the spiritual, intellectual and community aspects of Bahá'í
life.

The House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha in 'Akka will be opened to pilgrimage.

Work will be continued on the collation and classification of the
Sacred Texts and a series of compilations gleaned and translated from
the writings of the Faith will be sent out to the Bahá'í world to help
in deepening the friends in their understanding of the fundamentals of
the Faith, enriching their spiritual lives, and reinforcing their
efforts to teach the Cause.

The ties binding the Bahá'í International Community to the United
Nations will be further developed.

Continued efforts will be made to protect the Faith from opposition
and to emancipate it from the fetters of persecution.

International Goals

Each National Spiritual Assembly has been given goals for these first
two years of the Plan, designed to continue the process of expansion, to
consolidate the victories won, and to attain, where circumstances
permit, any goals that may have had to remain unaccomplished at the end
of the Five Year Plan. During these first two years we shall be
examining, with the Continental Boards of Counselors and National
Spiritual Assemblies, the conditions and possibilities in each country,
and shall be considering in detail the capacities and needs of each of
the rapidly differentiating national Bahá'í communities before
formulating the further goals towards which each community is to work
following the opening phase of the Plan. Throughout the world the Seven
Year Plan must witness the attainment of the following objectives:

The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of Samoa is to be completed and progress will be
made in the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in India.

Nineteen new National Spiritual Assemblies are to be brought into
being: eight in Africa, those of Angola, Bophuthatswana, the Cape Verde
Islands, Gabon, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia and Transkei; eight in the
Americas, those of Bermuda, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, the
Leeward Islands, Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Vincent; and three in the
Pacific, those of the Cook Islands, Tuvalu and the West Caroline
Islands. Those National Spiritual Assemblies which have had to be
dissolved will, circumstances permitting, be reestablished.

The Message of Bahá'u'lláh must be taken to territories and islands
which are as yet unopened to His Faith.

The teaching work, both that organized by institutions of the Faith
and that which is the fruit of individual initiative, must be actively
carried forward so that there will be growing numbers of believers,
leading more countries to the stage of entry by troops and ultimately to
mass conversion. This teaching work must include prompt, thorough and
continuing consolidation so that all victories will be safeguarded, the
number of Local Spiritual Assemblies will be increased and the
foundations of the Cause reinforced.

The interchange of pioneers and traveling teachers, which contributes
so importantly to the unity of the Bahá'í world and to a true
understanding of the oneness of mankind, must continue, especially
between neighboring lands. At the same time, each national Bahá'í
community must aspire to a rapid achievement of self-sufficiency in
carrying out its vital activities, thus acquiring the capacity to
continue to function and grow even if outside help is cut off.

Especially in finance is the attainment of independence by national
Bahá'í communities urgent. Already the persecutions in Iran have
deprived the believers in that country of the bounty of contributing to
the international funds of the Faith, of which they have been a major
source. Economic disruption in other countries threatens further
diminution of financial resources. We therefore appeal to the friends
everywhere to exercise the utmost economy in the use of funds and to
make those sacrifices in their personal lives which will enable them to
contribute their share, according to their means, to the local,
national, continental and international funds of the Faith.

For the prompt achievement of all the goals and the healthy growth of
Bahá'í community life National Spiritual Assemblies must pay particular
attention to the efficient functioning, in the true spirit of the Faith,
of their national committees and other auxiliary institutions, and, in
consultation with the Continental Boards of Counselors, must conceive
and implement programs that will guide and reinforce the efforts of the
friends in the path of service.

National Spiritual Assemblies must promote wise and dignified
approaches to people prominent in all areas of human endeavor,
acquainting them with the nature of the Bahá'í community and the basic
tenets of the Faith, and winning their esteem and friendship.

At the heart of all activities, the spiritual, intellectual and
community life of the believers must be developed and fostered,
requiring: the prosecution with increased vigor of the development of
Local Spiritual Assemblies so that they may exercise their beneficial
influence and guidance on the life of Bahá'í communities; the nurturing
of a deeper understanding of Bahá'í family life; the Bahá'í education of
children, including the holding of regular Bahá'í classes and, where
necessary, the establishment of tutorial schools for the provision of
elementary education; the encouragement of Bahá'í youth in study and
service; and the encouragement of Bahá'í women to exercise to the full
their privileges and responsibilities in the work of the community--may
they befittingly bear witness to the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf,
the immortal heroine of the Bahá'í Dispensation, as we approach the
fiftieth anniversary of her passing.

A Time of Testing: A Time for Clinging to the Covenant

As lawlessness spreads in the world, as governments rise and fall, as
rival groups and feuding peoples struggle, each for its own advantage,
the plight of the oppressed and the deprived wrings the heart of every
true Bahá'í, tempting him to cry out in protest or to arise in wrath at
the perpetrators of injustice. For this is a time of testing which calls
to mind Bahá'u'lláh's words, "O concourse of the heedless! I swear by
God! The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have
surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: 'Taste ye what
your hands have wrought!'"

Now is the time when every follower of Bahá'u'lláh must cling fast to
the Covenant of God, resist every temptation to become embroiled in the
conflicts of the world, and remember that he is the holder of a precious
trust, the Message of God which, alone, can banish injustice from the
world and cure the ills afflicting the body and spirit of man. We are
the bearers of the Word of God in this day and, however dark the
immediate horizons, we must go forward rejoicing in the knowledge that
the work we are privileged to perform is God's work and will bring to
birth a world whose splendor will outshine our brightest visions and
surpass our highest hopes.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

Elucidation of Seven Year Plan Goals

Naw-Ruz 1979

To National Spiritual Assemblies

Beloved Friends,

In the message of the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá'ís of the
world and in its letters to individual communities setting the goals of
the first phase of the Seven Year Plan are a number of references which
it wishes to amplify for your guidance. Not all will apply to every
national Bahá'í community, but you will all undoubtedly find interest in
reading even those which do not immediately apply to your specific
situation. The points we have been asked to set forth are as follows.

Local Spiritual Assemblies

In August 1970 the House of Justice sent to all National Spiritual
Assemblies a compilation of the words of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and
Shoghi Effendi on the Local Spiritual Assembly. To supplement this
fundamental and most important guidance we now enclose a compilation of
extracts from the letters of the Universal House of Justice written
between 1966 and 1975, covering the importance of Local Spiritual
Assemblies, their development, the supporting role of the Auxiliary
Board members and their assistants, and suggested goals for Local
Assemblies.

In selecting goal towns for the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies
a National Assembly should ensure that there will be a wide distribution
of Local Assemblies throughout the country.

National Assemblies should consider calling upon every Local Assembly to
meet at least once every Bahá'í month, and to appoint a local teaching
committee wherever it is desirable to do so and has not already been
done.

Pioneers and Traveling Teachers

The need for the services of pioneers and traveling teachers remains
very great. In the goals for the initial two-year phase of the Plan few
specific assignments for the sending of pioneers and traveling teachers
have been made. In recent years a steady stream has begun to flow, and
the Universal House of Justice calls upon the followers of Bahá'u'lláh
in the stronger national communities to arise to join this stream.
Enclosed are two lists showing those countries which are particularly in
need of pioneers and traveling teachers at the present time. You should
publish these as soon as possible. They are also being supplied to the
Continental Pioneer Committees, and those friends who arise will be able
to decide upon their area of service in consultation with their National
Assembly and the appropriate committees. The international funds of the
Faith are now very limited, and this adds to the need for pioneers and
traveling teachers to be self-supporting.

Youth Teaching

Experience has shown that youth can render valuable service in many
activities of the community, and particularly in taking the message to
the members of their own generation. Those in schools and universities
have many opportunities to teach their fellow students and faculty
members, and many can be particularly effective by attending a school or
university in a pioneer goal. During vacations youth can often render
outstanding services as traveling teachers. Traveling in teams has been
very useful.

Border Teaching

It is very important that there be collaborative teaching between
national Bahá'í communities in border areas, both by travel teaching
across the border and in the organization of joint teaching campaigns on
both sides of it. Each National Spiritual Assembly should study this
possibility and, if it finds such projects profitable, should seek the
collaboration of its sister National Assemblies and request the advice
and assistance of the Continental Board of Counselors.

Teaching Conferences

These conferences, whether national or regional, in addition to
providing good opportunities for fanning the enthusiasm of the friends
and fostering their unity, have been effectively used by many National
Assemblies as working conferences where reports are given of the status
of the goals of the Plan and of the urgent needs and priorities; and,
where necessary, calls are raised for pioneers, traveling teachers and
funds.

Summer and Winter Schools

The Guardian once described the institution of the Summer School in a
letter written on his behalf, as "a vital and inseparable part of any
teaching campaign." In April 1972 the House of justice issued a
compilation on the importance of Bahá'í Summer Schools, and it commends
this to every National Spiritual Assembly for study. In only a few
countries has it been possible or timely to acquire properties to house
Summer and Winter Schools; in most they are still held in rented
premises, and the House of Justice stresses the importance of holding
them at as low a cost as possible in a place that is easily accessible
to the friends, so that large numbers of believers and inquirers can
attend. It is hoped that this activity will become at least an annual
feature of the Bahá'í community life in every land.

The Bahá'í Education of Children

It is important to hold regular Bahá'í children's classes to give the
children a thorough grounding in knowledge of the teachings and history
of the Faith, to imbue them with its spirit, to establish loving ties
between them and to provide them with that firm foundation in the Faith
which will enable them to grow up as staunch and enlightened servants of
Bahá'u'lláh. Non-Bahá'í parents will often welcome the opportunity of
having their children take part in such classes, and this, in addition
to the benefit it confers upon the children, may well be a means of
attracting their parents to the Faith.

Tutorial Schools

This is a term, originally adopted in the Bahá'í community of India, to
describe the simple type of school, organized and conducted under the
auspices of the Bahá'í administrative institutions, wherein one teacher
is employed to conduct classes in reading and writing and elementary
subjects for the Bahá'í and non-Bahá'í children in a village. In
addition to the academic subjects he also conducts Bahá'í classes for
the children and, in his spare time, makes a valuable contribution to
the teaching and consolidation work in his own and neighboring Bahá'í
communities. The school may be held in the open air, in one of the
houses of the Bahá'ís, in the local Haziratu'l-Quds, or in a simple
building constructed for the purpose, as conditions allow.

The teacher's salary as well as the other costs of the school are
provided out of fees paid by the parents, supplemented, if necessary and
possible, by allocations from the local or national funds.

In the Tablet of the World Bahá'u'lláh states that "Everyone, whether
man or woman, should hand over to a trusted person a portion of what he
or she earneth through trade, agriculture or other occupation, for the
training and education of children, to be spent for this purpose with
the knowledge of the Trustees of the House of Justice." In many
countries this duty is fulfilled through the taxes that the government
levies for the support of the state educational system, but there are
other lands where no such facilities are provided and the Local
Spiritual Assemblies may well begin to fulfill this aspect of their
duties by encouraging the local friends to contribute to a special
education fund which can be used for the support of tutorial schools or
to assist the children of indigent believers to obtain schooling.

Publications

Every National Spiritual Assembly should have a well conceived plan for
the provision and dissemination of a balanced supply of Bahá'í
literature for the believers and for the teaching work. In translation
and publication, priority should be given to the Sacred Texts and the
writings of Shoghi Effendi, for without access to the life-giving waters
of the Holy Word, how are the believers to deepen in their understanding
of the Teachings and convey them accurately to others?

Recordings

In addition to the publication of Texts and teaching materials for the
friends, it would be helpful in areas where the degree of literacy is
not high, to find ways to teach the friends Bahá'í songs, poems, stories
and brief quotations from the Writings as well as prayers. This can be
done through the use of cassette tapes or radio broadcasts.

The goal given to certain national communities to make recordings of the
Holy Texts is not intended to imply the large-scale production of
cassette tapes but rather the development of locally based programs for
the recording on cassette tapes of passages in the indigenous languages.
Such tapes can then be carried by traveling teachers to outlying areas,
used in the teaching work, or left behind if there are tape-recorders
locally available.

Communications

Keeping the friends informed of the news of the Faith is so important
that every National Assembly is urged to devote attention to the prompt
and regular dissemination of its national newsletter, supplemented,
where necessary and feasible, by regional and local news organs. Some
National Assemblies have also found that cassette recordings can be
useful for communicating with friends in outlying areas, and radio
programs can, of course, fulfill a similar purpose.

Correspondence Courses

Such courses have proved their usefulness both for teaching the Faith
and deepening the knowledge of the believers, and their production has
been given as a goal to some national communities. If any National
Assembly assigned this goal is not certain how to proceed, it may
consult with the Continental Board of Counselors or write to the
Universal House of Justice which will put it in touch with those
National Assemblies most likely to be able to help.

Properties

Many properties have already been acquired in the course of previous
plans. It is important that these properties be properly maintained in
good repair. National Spiritual Assemblies should set aside sums
annually in their budgets for the maintenance of national properties so
that when a repair becomes necessary the funds will be available without
creating a sudden crisis for the national fund. As far as possible,
local Haziratu'l-Quds and other local properties should be kept up by
the local friends themselves.

It is also important to make full use of the properties of the Faith for
the purposes for which they were acquired. Well maintained and regularly
used properties will not only be a means of fostering Bahá'í community
life, but will add to the prestige and dignity of the Faith in the eyes
of the non-Bahá'í public.

A number of properties called for in the Five Year Plan, such as
district and local Haziratu'l-Quds and local endowments, have not yet
been acquired, usually as a result of local circumstances beyond the
control of the friends. These goals should continue to be diligently
pursued so that they will be attained as soon as conditions permit. If
there are insuperable difficulties which make such a property
unobtainable in the foreseeable future, a full report should be sent to
the Universal House of Justice.

For goals requiring the acquisition of additional local Haziratu'l-Quds
during the initial phase of the Seven Year Plan, no budget has been
provided for assistance from the International Fund.

The Universal House of Justice is eagerly anticipating an upsurge of
activity in the years ahead, and assures you all of its fervent prayers
in the Holy Shrines for the rapid progress of all aspects of the new
Plan.